3A switching regulator

Description.

When compared to linear voltage regulators the switching voltage regulators are much power efficient. In the case of linear voltage regulators the difference between the input and output voltage is just wasted and for switching regulators there is almost no such wastage and that’s why the switching regulators have great power efficiency ranging up to 85% . In simple words, the switching regulator operates by taking small bits of energy from the input voltage source and then transferring it to the output with the help of a solid state switch and a control circuitry. Since the switching element is either fully open or closed at any moment, no energy is wasted  across it. The control circuit controls  the duty cycle of the solid state switch which in turn determines rate at which energy is transferred to the output.

The electronic circuit given here is of a simple and low cost switching regulator using the IC LM317 that can deliver up to 3A of current. The input voltage range of this circuit is between 8 to 35V DC and the output voltage can be adjusted between 1.8 to 32V DC. The output voltage can be adjusted by using the

Transformerless switch mode power supply circuit

12V/120mA switch mode power supply circuit.

Transformer less switch mode power supplies have become very popular these days. The circuit shown below is of a 12V/120mA output, 85 to 230V AC input transformerless switch mode power supply using LNK304 IC. Applications of a power supply based on this IC includes hand held devices, timers, small appliances, LED drivers, industrial gadgets etc.

LNK304 is a low component count, efficient off-line switcher IC that can support buck, buck-boost and flyback topologies. The IC has a built in auto start circuit for short circuit and open loop fault protection. Other features of LNK304 includes low temperature variation, thermal shut down,high break down voltage, good line & load regulation, high band width , wide input voltage range (85 to 230V AC) etc. In general the LNK304 has a better performance when compared to the many other discrete buck regulators.

LNK304 pin configuration and typical application

The pin configuration and the typical application diagram of LNK304 are shown above. Drain (D) pin the drain connection of the built in power MOSFET. The external by pass capacitor (0.1uF) is connected to the BYPASS (BP) terminal. FEEDBACK (FB) pin controls the switching of the built in power MOSFET. A current above than 49uA delivered to this pin will inhibit the switching. The internal power MOSFETs source is connected to